This one is taking a turn in the spice cupboard… er…. slash baking cupboard slash stuff-I-put-on-stuff cupboard?

I’ve been thinking about this one for a while now actually. My cupboard is full (and I mean full) of spices, toppings, baking supplies, extra things as far as the eyes can see. I tried to narrow it down to the guys I find myself grabbing for the very most.

Lets start with the most obvious one today shall we?

Garlic powder! Not to be confused with garlic salt. This one, I feel, is probably on everyone’s gotta-have-groceries list, but I just couldn’t pass it by and not include it. This literally gets used every day… OK maybe not literally, but darn near close. There is not much I cook without garlic. Whether fresh or dehydrated, garlic is a staple (and lets face it, real life dictates not always having the time and energy to always use fresh garlic). My favorites are to add it, along with a little salt, to my boiled water when making rice, or quinoa or cous cous, or any other kind of grain. I, of course, put it in nearly all soups I ever make, add it to tamari (soy sauce) along with a little coconut sugar to make a delicious marinade, and I really enjoy adding it to some eggless mayonnaise (though you could go with whatever you have) and a little sriracha sauce to make a really quick spicy garlic aioli!

Next up is chili flakes! Though I might use this a little less than I use the garlic powder, these wonderful spicy little babies I use a lot, particularly as a topping. My favorite things to use chili flakes on are avocado toast with a little salt, on a salad with a little olive oil, white wine vinegar, and salt & pepper as a really simple dressing, and I basically add it to any pasta dish I might make!

From there I picked up my garlic & herb Mrs. Dash. Maybe I should have made her first. I put this sh…tuff… on everything. Basically I use this as my go to flavoring, I add it to my tofu, use it as a seasoning on my potato wedges, add it to my soups or when I make pasta sauce. I also use this on my salads with the same blend of olive oil and vinegar as mentioned above. I add it as a topping with a little salt to my baked or mashed potatoes, add it to my bread crumbs when making bread-crumb-crusted-anythings. Just really can use this for whatever you’d like. The best part is that it is a no-salt-added product as well, so you can control your own sodium content. There are also other flavors, and I just recently picked up the southwestern style seasoning flavor. I just always find myself buying (and going through tons of) this one!

Alright, these guys! Roasted black sesame seeds! Now I don’t use these as much as I use the other guys, but I still have my specific uses for them that I eat often enough that I HAVE to have these in the house. As of late these are my current favorite, aside from the chili flakes, to add to my avocado toast. I add them to my tofu when I marinade it with the garlicy-tamari-ey marinade I mentioned above. I use them as a salad topping, and sprinkle them on top of my salad wraps, and almost every time I do any kind of rice noodle bowl at my house you will find these guys in there!

And last but not least I had to add this into the mix. I use this probably the least often, but again there are just certain things I use this for that requires me to always need it hanging out in my cupboard. My biggest use for coconut sugar is adding it to that marinade I mentioned above, and sprinkling it on some toast with a little bit of cinnamon. It also happens to be my secret-not-so-secret ingredient when doing basically any kind of bean salad to which I add vinegar. We also added a tiny bit of this to a spicy cayenne mixture that we used for tossing our home made potato wedges in, and it was pretty fantastic if I do say so myself. Basically anything you can think of that you would use regular white sugar for you could use coconut sugar for, AND it has a lower glycemic level if that is something that interests you!

As a side note however, sugar is sugar is sugar, so if you are not particularly concerned about it’s glycemic level and you are using it for mass amounts of baking than this may not be your wallets best friend. Having said that if you use your sugar like I use mine, minimally and only for a select few dishes than you may really enjoy having this in your cupboard!

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Well that’s all folks! I feel like I could do 10 more of these ones, I found it hard to narrow it down, but if you had to choose just a handful of spices or toppings from your cupboard what would you choose? Also what other gotta-have-grocery themes should I do? If you have any ideas for me, send them my way!

Another great post!! I would say Garlic is my most used but I am not as versed in cooking as You!! Would love to see a Grocery one of your process from the list making to the shopping!! You always do such a great job!